Prof. A. C. Ramsay on the Glacial Theory of Lake- Basins. 285 



is thus expressed : 



lo^ = *{l-(f)"}- 



It obviously possesses the same general character with my for- 

 mula of 1849; viz. it makes the pressure a function of the 

 reciprocal of the absolute temperature, containing three con- 

 stants, vanishing at the absolute zero, and converging towards a 

 limit when the temperature increases indefinitely ; and it is satis- 

 factory to me to see that Mr. Edmonds, by an independent 

 investigation, has arrived at a result which thus agrees in the 

 main with mine. — W. J. M. R. 

 March 1865. 



XL. Sir Charles Lyell and the Glacial Theory of Lake- Basins. 

 By A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S., V.P.G.S* 



IN Sir Charles LyelPs new edition of the ' Elements of Geo- 

 logy/ he has devoted several pages to the discussion of the 

 theory of the " connexion of the predominance of lakes with 

 glacial action," and he does me the honour, by a number of coun- 

 ter arguments, to combat the views I advanced in 1862 f. In 

 the opening passage he adopts that part of my reasoning in 

 which I first insisted, as a significant fact, on the connexion of 

 multitudes of lakes with regions high and low in all latitudes 

 that have been thoroughly subjected to ice-action, and their 

 comparative rarity in countries where the signs of glacial action 

 have not been observed J. It is with satisfaction that I now see 



* Communicated by the Author. 



f " On the Glacial Origin of certain Lakes," &c, Journal of the 

 Geological Society, vol. xviii. p. 185 (Proc. March 5, 1862). 



X On this subject Sir Charles observes, " It has been truly remarked that 

 lakes are very common in those countries where erratics, striated boulders, 

 and rock-surfaces, with other signs of glaciation, abound, and that they are 

 comparatively rare in tropical and subtropical regions. When travelling 

 over some of the lower lands in Sweden, far from mountains, as well as 

 over the coast-region of Maine in the United States, and other districts in 

 North America, I was much struck with the innumerable ponds and small 

 lakes, of which counterparts are described as equally characteristic of Fin- 

 land, Canada, and the Hudson's Bay territories." These are the very 

 regions to which I directed attention in my Memoir of 1862; and my 

 attention having been directed by a geologist of distinction to the passage 

 quoted, I was led to infer that by accident 1 had done injustice to the 

 published views of Sir Charles Lyell. It was therefore with a sense of 

 relief that, on referring to his two journeys in North America and other 

 writings, I failed to find any allusion to the subject. I mention it now 

 lest others should draw the same inference that I did. As far as I am 

 aware, I first drew special attention to the fact in connexion with the 

 Glacial Theory. 



